Oil Slick Detected in Manzanillo, PEMEX Confirms Inspections

An oily slick was detected in the waters of the Bay of Manzanillo, Colima, on the night of June 2, triggering a federal response that by June 4 still had not identified a confirmed source. PEMEX confirmed it is conducting inspections at its Terminal Marítima de Manzanillo to help identify the origin of the oily slick, while stating that reviews carried out on June 2 and 3 found that its facilities are operating under normal conditions with no evidence of any incident associated with the event.

The incident adds to a growing list of environmental events linked, confirmed or suspected, to PEMEX infrastructure in 2026, coming less than four months after the Gulf of Mexico spill that contaminated more than 900 kilometers of coastline across Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Campeche, and Tabasco.

Fishermen and tourism service providers raised the alarm after a dense oily layer became visible on the bay's surface from the night of Monday, June 2. Videos circulated on social media showing water samples with an apparent fuel layer on the surface. Despite the gravity of the situation and a strong fuel odor spreading across the port, those affected said federal and local authorities took hours to respond, with municipal Civil Protection personnel not arriving until Tuesday afternoon to conduct inspections and attempt to identify the source.

SEMAR activated the Plan Local de Contingencias para Derrames de Hidrocarburos y Sustancias Nocivas Potencialmente Peligrosas on June 2, following a report from ASIPONA Manzanillo about the presence of hydrocarbon in the vicinity of the PEMEX maritime terminal. During inspections, specialists detected dispersed surface iridescence on the water, concentrated primarily around the perimeter barriers of the PEMEX terminal.

The SEMAR response involved the Sixth Naval Region, the Pacific Naval Force, and the Fourteenth Naval Zone, deploying specialized personnel in a coordinated containment operation.

PEMEX: Inspections Ongoing, No Confirmed Link

PEMEX stated it is maintaining permanent coordination with SEMAR, ASIPONA Manzanillo, and corresponding authorities to support follow-up and investigation activities. The company reiterated its commitment to environmental protection and said it would collaborate with investigations to address any situation that could represent a risk in Manzanillo Bay.

A new inspection of pipelines by SEMARNAT, PROFEPA, ASIPONA, and Civil Protection was scheduled for June 4, the day of this article's publication, meaning a fuller institutional assessment of the terminal's pipeline integrity had not yet been completed when PEMEX issued its June 3 statement distancing its infrastructure from the event.

The distinction between confirming an investigation and confirming culpability is one that PEMEX has navigated carefully in recent months. The same framing, inspections underway, no confirmed link, and facilities operating normally, was used in the early days of the Gulf of Mexico spill in February, which PEMEX only publicly acknowledged as a pipeline failure in April, after civil society organizations had documented the event through satellite imagery since the first week of February.

The Pattern

The Manzanillo event comes after a crude oil spill from PEMEX affected approximately 600km of Gulf of Mexico coastline in February, and follows three fires at PEMEX facilities in 2026 alone, one of which left five people dead.

The pattern carries direct relevance to the Moody's Issuer In-Depth report published on PEMEX just one week ago, which explicitly flagged that capital spending reductions raise risks about the reliability and efficiency of PEMEX's downstream operations over time, with higher incidence of explosions. The same logic applies to aging pipeline and terminal infrastructure at marine facilities, reduced maintenance investment increases the probability of containment failures.

The Gulf of Mexico spill, which PEMEX eventually attributed to a 36-inch pipeline at the Cantarell complex's Abkatun Alfa platform, was not reported in time, not even to the then-Director General Víctor Rodríguez. Three senior officials from PEMEX Exploración y Producción were subsequently removed from their positions for the failure to report promptly. Whether the Manzanillo event produces a similar institutional accountability process, or is resolved as a third-party origin with no PEMEX liability, will depend on the June 4 pipeline inspection results and any subsequent ASEA action.